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The
notion of evangelical has gotten a bad rap in many areas of the faith world.
This is especially true in how the faith world has become too much about the
world and its’ “kingdom…” over and above the Kingdom of God. Which leaves us to
begin to reflect upon; what IS the Kingdom of God? A myriad of labels have
arisen categorizing, chastising and alienating those who may perhaps just
merely want to, in the purest form… BE an evangelist for the Love of God and
Neighbor thus living into the truth and purpose of the Kingdom of God!
The
snippet from Jonah is “post-whale,” which you have to imagine the many things
that were racing through his mind about the whole affair… God heard my prayer,
I repented in at first not really taking that call from him seriously and now I
am going to truly live into that calling and DO his bidding! This is believing in something that goes
beyond the ways of the world and its self-concerned perspective. This IS what being Evangelical truly and
truthfully means!
If I “believed”
in limited, judgmental labels from the world, I would be merely a second
career, 46 year old Sicilian Lutheran pastor who’s “conservative with a twist,”
who’s Biblical over doctrinal and so on and so forth… as I go forward one week
later after my ordination shared with friends and family last Saturday. Some
people may call me a heretic for merely being a female… Why should the ways of the world interfere
with the mission of Christ, the task at hand I ask? For some it does… unfortunately, for some it
is their entire “ministry(!)” For whom does it really serve however, that is
the question ...
Unfortunately
we don’t live towards trusting in God’s sovereignty yet alone His sense of
timing, ways and means. The Evil One has
helped to allow the gospel of “the Great man” theory to take over the mission
and function of being “church,” in the world today. In regards to the 19th
century, instead of it being a true era of “enlightenment,” it became the birth
of a movement towards the godless and the self-oriented manifesto catering to
the ego and to the world.
As
presented in Wikipedia the “Great Man theory” is a 19th-century idea according
to which history can be largely explained by the impact of "great
men", or heroes: highly influential individuals who, due to either their
personal charisma, intelligence, wisdom, or political skill utilized their
power in a way that had a decisive historical impact.
Boy
that does sound very attractive to the Old Nature doesn’t it? The world revolving and evolving around/ from
and for the self! Yikes… Where’s God?
Why is He taking a backseat here? I’m sorry but being “progressive” for
the kingdom of the world is not only intellectual idolatry but feeding into the
graceless wilderness in which there is no light and really no presence of God
at all!
Come
and follow me were Jesus’ Words to a bunch of fishermen who actually listened
and became His disciples! Think about it for a moment, If He would’ve tried
this first on the Pharisees, what kind of response “success” would He have had?
Maybe a small few, carefully coming in the “dark of night” to meet Jesus and
say a “secret” yes! Being Evangelical is
being a bold witness to live teetering upon that radical edge of motivation and
obedience. To whom are you obedient to?
Who rules your heart and motivations? What drives you from within the Gospel of
Jesus to be an active minister within the priesthood of all believers? Speaking
for myself, it is to love neighbor—BE truly and truthfully a faith-filled,
compassionate Pastor to someone in need!
The
discipleship journey is always going to change, as well as God is always going
to be working through Grace in your lives transforming that life-long path,
that life-long journey. Last Saturday
was a spiritual plateau for me, and the journey and challenge the Lord has
given me to truly and truthfully BE obedient to. Just like the close of a Cursillo weekend
however, that mountain top view includes new terrain you have yet to cross,
bear, for the sake of the Good News!
This
past Thursday Phil & I went out to Las Vegas, also known as “sin city…” for
a potential joint job opportunity at a retirement community. The benefits, the money, the weather, free
housing, healthcare etcetera and so forth were highly attractive! However after seriously sitting down and
talking with the people there about what we would actually be doing,
unfortunately had too little to do with ministering to people more than making
money. Welcome to the ways of the world,
we have to survive…but what about surviving through doing truly and truthfully
ministry??
The
world is hostile to the disciple in more ways than one. You either have to become an “indoctrinated
professional,” or sit back and spin your wheels hoping for just the “right
thing” to somewhere down the line come through. I have met people in both
categories for even I spent 20 some years dreaming as an artist… God however,
all along has “painted” those next steps and my heart has been obediently
shaped and is now genuinely ready & motivated to take that bold leap
forward!
Living
into that bold leap forward is being aware of the sovereignty of Grace active
in the shaping of your heart knowledge and then utilized in response through
the hands and feet. Humility is the
cornerstone of the disciple—it is developed profoundly out of a deeply planted
love—faith God’s Grace has afforded us! Humility is obedient to God’s sense of
time also known as Kairos time. Our
human nature and the world has lived into and justified over and above God, Chronos
time. Chronos is the fixed, limited, moment
of time that is not only NOT timeless, but ends. Everything concerning this sense of time you
could say revolves around finitude… What about the Spirit? As Disciples of
Christ Jesus, are we truly and truthfully obedient to the Holy Spirit? Do we
allow the voice of Grace to speak and transform us?
The “Sin
City” people of St. Paul’s evangelist travels were the Corinthians. It would be lovely to imagine Paul delivering
his address to them at various points of his pastoral concerns to them… You
have to wonder at what points in the letters was he nearly yelling at them to
straighten up and fly right? The snippet
shared this Sunday has St. Paul in an instructional mode basically asking them
where their priorities are—are they centered in Christ and living for the
Kingdom of God or for the kingdom of the world? The presence of Grace—God actively
working in their lives needed to be taken seriously.
Living
faithfully and boldly into our discipleship call needs to be seen through the
Kingdom of God’s perspective, not our own.
For when we have so brazenly declared ourselves righteous warriors for
the kingdom of the world and its agendas we become, to use the language of the
world: socialists, politicians, self-oriented activists and the like… Writing our own gospel that does not dare
touch the Holy Spirit with a ten-foot pole yet alone the true meaning of GRACE!
The net
the evangelists are to use is never to become an imprisonment of ego-driven, exclusionary,
doctrinal correctness. It is supposed to
be and construct—connect us to a loving and gracious atmosphere where Christ IS
the bright light burning deeply in unity as a community going forth as bold
witnesses together!
A few
months back I was truly saddened to hear the ironically-made insignificant blip
of the media saying that ISIS destroyed, of what was thought to be the tomb of
Jonah. Being delivered as a passing
ticker-tape message on the bottom of the TV screen was truly, spiritually
disturbing… For few people know, except
maybe those who’ve enjoyed the history channel’s specials, that Jonah and the
story of the whale was a big, symbolic aspect to the early persecuted,
Christian disciples. In fact, the early
catacomb tombs or ossuaries of these early Christians were marked with the secret
seal of a whale and Jonah inside.
From
what I remember of that History Channel special, it was sad to see that
currently hundreds of apartment buildings now sit on top of many of these
ancient tombs. Buried away by time and
worldly purposes perhaps… but in metaphorically thinking for a moment about
these buried tombs, buried symbols, buried FAITH—you really cannot escape the
presence of God knowing everything you try to run away from, every evil you
commit and every graceless behavior you impart for your own preservation!
Speaking
as an “Evangelical,” Pandora’s box way beyond expanded and aside; I really don’t
want to live in a graceless, godless wilderness where there IS no light,
purpose or meaning to strive for… This
is death and I want to LIVE, be and become one of many lights in the world BUT
not of the world for Jesus Christ and His righteousness!
AMEN
January 25th, 2015; 3rd
Sunday after Epiphany; Year B; SOLA Lectionary;
Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62; 1
Corinthians 7:29-35; Mark 1:14-20
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